Nicola,
We receive these kinds of samples in our lab frequently and do process them 
as we do other mouse and rat tissue (colon, esophagus. liver, etc.) on our 
"old" Tissue Tek dip n'dunk type processor for an hour in each station 
starting in 70% ETOH. There is no heat or vacuum
used in processing. Overall processing time is 12 hrs. The sectioning is 
easy and the slides turn out really good.
Andi Grantham




At 11:58 AM 3/24/03 +0000, you wrote:
>Can anyone offer any advice on processing cell cultures, grown in monolayer
>or multi-layers with inserts / membranes?  Are there any special
>requirements?  Would a general processing schedule used for animal (mainly
>murine & rat) tissues be OK?  Or would this be too rigorous, since the cell
>layers are more delicate in nature than lumps of tissue?  We use an
>overnight schedule of 16 hours without vacuum.   Is there such a thing as
>over-processing?  I read in the archives that overprocessing is a myth.
>  What are the symptoms that people claim are due to overprocessing? Any
>help or advice would be much appreciated.
>
>Thank you
>
>Nicola Cragg
>Epistem Ltd,
>Manchester, UK

.....................................................................
: Andrea Grantham, HT(ASCP)     Dept. of Cell Biology & Anatomy     :
: Sr. Research Specialist       University of Arizona               :
: (office:  AHSC 4212)          P.O. Box 245044                     :
: (voice:  520-626-4415)        Tucson, AZ  85724-5044    USA       :
: (FAX:  520-626-2097)          (email:  algranth@u.arizona.edu)       :
:...................................................................:
           http://www.cba.arizona.edu/histology-lab.html